Olympics-Paris to name sports venue after dead Ugandan Olympian Cheptegei

(Reuters) - The French capital will pay tribute to Ugandan Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei, who was set on fire by her boyfriend, by naming a sports facility in her honour, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced on Friday.

The marathon runner, who competed in the Paris Games last month died on Thursday, four days after she was doused in petrol and ignited by her boyfriend in Kenya, in the latest attack on a female athlete in the country.

The 33-year-old, who finished 44th in her Olympic Games debut, suffered burns to more than 75% of her body in Sunday's attack, Kenyan and Ugandan media reported.

"She dazzled us here in Paris. We saw her. Her beauty, her strength, her freedom, and it was in all likelihood her beauty, strength and freedom which were intolerable for the person who committed this murder," Hidalgo told reporters.

"Paris will not forget her. We'll dedicate a sports venue to her so that her memory and her story remains among us and helps carry the message of equality, which is a message carried by the Olympic and Paralympic Games."

Cheptegei is the third prominent sportswoman to be killed in Kenya since October 2021. Kenyan Sports Minister Kipchumba Murkomen described Cheptegei's death as a loss "to the entire region".

"This is a critical moment— not just to mourn the loss of a remarkable Olympian, but to commit ourselves to creating a society that respects and protects the dignity of every individual," Uganda's Athletes commission Chair Ganzi Semu Mugula said on Friday.

(Reporting by Shifa Jahan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sharon Singleton)